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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here again. Thanks for the comments received thus far.

A few points:
Part of our frustration is that while we live centrally, I work downtown and my wife works in Fairfax. So we can't really move further east without worsening her commute (which is already terrible on 66). Of course, going west really doesn't help the affordability problem at all. Otherwise, we'd be able to consider Brookland, H St., Takoma, or PG.

Additionally, another frustration has been our lack of being able to save due to childcare costs, etc. We have decent savings, retirement, and are beginning to save for college costs.

Saving for a down payment on top of that in this environment is intimidating and would take years. In fact, you could argue that houses are appreciating faster than we can save. What's the point of saving, say, $15,000 per year when house values rise $40,000 per year? It's clear that you've missed the boat and that 'path' is no longer viable. Further, I'm not comfortable putting only 3.5% down. I'll be paying PMI forever and I hate paying interest on anything as it is. It's just more money down the drain.[/quote]

OP - I think that if you save for a down payment of maybe 5-10% and look in the 400k-ish mortgage range, you can find something in West Springfield/Burke/Fairfax City in your range. It will not be huge and renovated, but there is inventory and that's such a great area to raise kids. Try living as bare bones as possible for a year or two and see what you can come up with. It's true - there is a rental trap in this area that makes it really tough.[/quote]

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